Last mission to repair the Hubble telescopeHubble space telescope discoveries have enriched our understanding of the cosmos. In this special report, you will see facts about the Hubble space telescope, discoveries it has made and what the last mission's goals are.

For their own goodFifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.

Hammoud could receive a sentence of up to life in prison for the charges: solicitation to commit murder, retaliating against a witness, use of a firearm during a crime of violence and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Hammoud, who owned a cell phone business in Sarasota, told investigators he tried to kill the two people because of their involvement in his 2001 conviction for possession and transfer of a machine gun and a sawed-off shotgun after he sold the weapons to the undercover agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Hammoud met in his store with two cooperating witnesses on Dec. 30, 2003, and demonstrated how he wanted the informant shot and killed, according to a signed plea agreement. Eight days earlier, he joked about decapitating the informant and sending his head to the agent's house.

Hammoud once bragged of ties to Hezbollah, according to an affidavit submitted in federal court at the time of his arrest in January 2004. The United States lists Hezbollah as a terrorist group.

Investigators said Hammoud's statements about being involved with Hezbollah weren't confirmed.

"At this point in the investigation, we have not established a credible link to Hezbollah," Steve Cole, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said Friday.

Hammoud's attorney, Matthew P. Farmer, has said in court that his client suffers from mental illness. He declined to elaborate.

Hammoud, who wept during Friday's hearing, told U.S. Magistrate Mark Pizzo that he is taking three psychiatric drugs.